On the trail of hackers anonymous

Rebecca Urban reports on cloak-and-dagger deeds of naughty
nerds in the '80s.

Addiction. Often it starts with a daring puff on a cigarette, a light-hearted
spin on the roulette wheel or a casual drink after work on a Friday evening.

For one of Melbourne's most notorious hackers, an addiction to breaking in to
the world's most classified and supposedly secure computer systems began just as
innocently.

The story of "Electron" - the code name of a lonely Melbourne teenager who
became the first Australian to be prosecuted for computer crimes - is told by
filmmaker Kevin Anderson in his documentary In the Realm of the
Hackers.

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The dramatisation of Electron's story is the basis of Anderson's expose of
the hacking underworld during a time when Melbourne boasted some of the world's
elite hackers. It explores the motivations for and allure of hacking.

"They talk of the adrenalin rush they get when they break into a site . . .
They needed to keep getting that hit," says Anderson. "It's a bit like an
extreme sport or drug taking. One guy spoke of the sense of love he had for his
computer . . . He loved interacting with it. He humanised it, personalised it,
and it was almost this sensual thing." The film shows how Electron used his
home computer to steal a restricted computer security list, capturing the
attention of the US Secret Service, FBI and Australian Federal Police and
prompting the introduction of federal computer crime laws.

Anderson used police surveillance and interview tapes to reconstruct the
story, which is set in the late '80s and early '90s.

Electron - who still lives in Melbourne, is married and works in the IT
industry - would not be interviewed on camera or allow his identity to be
revealed. However, after being hounded for a year by Anderson, he agreed to be
interviewed on the condition of anonymity.

The endemic secrecy surrounding hacking networks posed a challenge for
Anderson and his team, who often had to employ devious tactics in order to
gather information. Sources had to be worn down, meetings were held on street
corners in the dark and much correspondence occurred via email only; hence the
film took about three years to make. It was unlike any project Anderson had
worked on before.

"It's a shadowy world and they're very covert," he says. "I thought, 'Come
on, get real. Let's not be so cloak-and-dagger.' It wore a bit thin after a
while."

Anderson credits associate producer Suelette Dreyfus, the author of the book
Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electric
Frontier, for access to many of her contacts, as well as a crash course on
the industry.

He says his computer knowledge is basic - "I can collect my emails but
that's about it" - even after making the film. He has learnt, however, that
many hackers share common experiences.

Most are highly intelligent, but often they felt isolated and alienated from
their families and peers. In Electron's case, his mother died when he was young
and he became obsessed with computers soon after.

"A lot came from broken families and had common family problems, whether it
was divorce or domestic violence or death," Anderson says. "They were a group
of smart guys and . . . they were just looking for something to belong to."